Dog Days Are Over #ROW80 Update

My Goal: Read two chapters of Story Engineering a day until I finish it.

Test my grasp of those lessons on my WIP and short stories.

I’m still in the character section of Story Engineering. The last part I read had to with plot vs. subplot vs. subtext. I sort of get it. I understand the examples Larry Brooks gives, but I’m having trouble making the connection with my own book. It’s like trying to think of a word that’s on the tip of your tongue. I’ll probably reread that chapter.

The writing’s going well. Thursday and Friday I got a bunch of pages under my belt for the short story. I don’t know if I mentioned it here, but this is totally unrelated to the vampire book. This one’s going to be about wizards AND it will definitely have romance in it. Written by me. Kait has fully endorsed this plan, so I know I’m on to something good.

This is my first try at a short story and while doing some brainstorming with Susan, she explained how I should be structuring it. Even though it’s not a full novel, it still needs the same story elements of one or it’ll be a bunch of scenes with no point. I’ve also never written fantasy in a medieval type setting, so that’s fun. Though, as much fun as I’m having, I don’t want to neglect my vampire story and will return to it this week.

So, this week’s song I picked Dog Days Are Over by Florence and the Machine. To be honest I have no clue what the song’s about, I just love the energy in the vocals and the way the music builds in the beginning. Makes me feel like something big and important is happening when I sit down to write. This is an awesome live version because it sounds almost exactly like the studio recording. It’s refreshing.

Info stuff- Follow my ROW80 progress every Wednesday and Sunday and be here Tuesdays and Thursdays for new posts on me, writing, superheroes, monsters, comics and any other geeky stuff on my mind.

It’s good to brainstorm with others. So far, I have no “writing buddies” online, but a colleague read my edited (first round) Interior Designs and gave good feedback. I’ll be searching for other Beta readers.

Brainstorming is a wonderful process and always very helpful. Yep, Florence and the machine has a wonderful spirit and their songs are interesting. I always appreciate it when a singer can sing live and is really good versus those who are so mixed in the studio, you gringe when they sing live. I have to remember to Story Engineering. Sounds very beneficial. Have a great week.

Great post. I wish you good luck on your short story. They can be pretty hard to do sometimes. I started with shorts and one became my novel. Let me check it out when you are done, okay? I would love to see it.

That lady has an amazing voice. She reminds me of what I imagine my wife’s mother looked like when she was young.

Keep reading and good luck with it influencing your writing. I’ve never heard of the book, but should check it out.

Love the post. You have made some good progress this week. I just love writing short stories even when I am working on a novel. It helps to break things up. In fact my own novel I published last year originally was a short story in the beginning.

Story Engineering sounds interesting. I have been using an English Composition Text book for my own lessons on writing. Before I got it, I use to never really brainstorm any of my work. Now I am beginning to even try and plot out my blogs.

Good luck for the coming week. I am sure Florence will bring you more inspiration. I know she would for me.